A/N: Yep. Despite all appearances, I am still alive. Maybe not well most of the time, but definitely alive. Let's just say I've had some busy years. Finished school, got some jobs, moved out of and back to state, became a father of four during all of it, and basically had very little time for any extra curricular writing. Now though, things have finally started to settle down and I'm able to get some writing done again.

That said, I've moved over to AO3 for pretty much all my fanfiction needs. Why? Honestly it's because their site is easier to upload to and has better/easier search filters when looking for new stories. That said, I have not forgotten where my enjoyment for writing started and will continue to cross post here as well.

Oh yeah, just a heads up that the version I have on AO3 is a little different. I've condensed some chapters into a single chapter, cut back on some of the 'gay' jokes (product of Army humor) that weren't actually needed for character development (or just cause I liked them to much to remove), and cleaned up some dialogue here and there. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same.

Now, after who knows how the hell long, we begin the Chuunin Exam Preliminaries.

Disclaimer: I didn't own Naruto then. I sure as hell don't on

"Before we enter in to the third phase of the Chuunin Exams, we will need to reduce the number of participants." The Jounin named Hayate said, coughing a bit as he did. "Because of this, we will be holding preliminary matches here and only the winners shall be allowed to move on to the final stage.

"Hold up!" Kiba shouted indignantly. "Why do we have to reduce the number of people going to the third round? Why can't we all go? We all passed, right?"

Hayate coughed again as he looked at Kiba. "The reason for this is due to the nature of the next phase. The third part of the Chuunin Exam is a tournament style match battle between the Genin who successfully clear the second phase. The main guests of this tournament are the leaders and important political figures of all the Elemental Nations. Needless to say, they simply don't have the time or patience to watch a large number of matches. Normally this is not a problem since the number of those who pass the second exam is rather small. However, this year, due to some unusual circumstances, the jounin's eyes moved to Naruto who looked up to the ceiling and started to whistle innocently, "we have too many genin who have passed. So we will be holding the preliminary bouts to 'thin the herd', as it were."

The Jounin coughed several more times, leading many to wonder if he wasn't going to die right there in front of them all, before speaking again. "We will be starting the preliminary matches immediately. However, before the first match is decided, I would like to ask if there is anyone that wishes to quit now."

Naruto looked around the room for signs of anyone raising their hands, as well as taking note of all his possible opponents. He hadn't really thought about it before, but it seemed like he knew pretty much everyone here. There was Bun-chan and her teammates (Hinata's cousin and that bushy-brow guy) Sakura, Ino, Teme, Shikamaru, Chouji, that weird guy in the jacket, and of course his own teammates Hinata and Kiba. Hell, he was even friends with all the members of one of the only two teams not from Konoha. The Suna team with Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. The only people he didn't know were the three from the Oto team that had passed.

Naruto's eyes narrowed on the three genin. That Orochimaru guy who had attacked them said he was the leader of Otogakure, so he wasn't inclined to believe those three were any less bastards than their leader. His beliefs weren't being contradicted in the least by the fact that they kept tossing hate filled glares in his direction. He could have claimed they were looking at any of the other genin in his area, most likely Teme since he had been their leader's target, but he had actually locked eyes with each of them several times as he watched them. They definitely had a beef with him and Naruto was more than happy to oblige by pounding out his fury at their leader by using them as substitutes.

When it became clear that no one wanted to quit, Hayate pointed to a large, black screen on the wall near the ceiling. "This digital screen will display who will be competing in each match. The matches are randomly decided so who you get matched up against depends entirely on your luck." The jounin stopped to cough again before speaking in a louder voice. "Please display the first match!" The board began cycling through names so fast they simply appeared to be a blur, but after only a few seconds there was a loud beep and two names stood on the board.

Hyuuga Neji vs. Kankuro

Naruto heard an audible groan and grinned. "Don't lose too fast, Kitty Clown!"

"Shut up, you little shit!" Kankuro shouted back. Naruto started snickering but it was short lived when he felt a solid blow to the back of his head.

"Ow! What was that for, Bun-chan?"

"Stop being so immature." The older girl chastised with a distinct edge in her voice.

"That's no reason to hit me." Naruto grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "Besides, I'm not as bad as Nii-san." He pointed to the front where Jagaa was currently giving Kurenai bunny ears with his fingers, only to quickly pull his hand back and act like he was just scratching his head every time she looked at him.

Tenten could only sigh and rub her eyes.

"Now, with the exception of the two participants for this match, I would like to ask that everyone please move to the observation platforms located on either side of the room." While coughing, the jounin pointed to each of the elevated areas. The remaining Genin and Jounin all began moving for the stairwells. As she passed by her cousin Hinata stopped and gave him a teasing poke in the shoulder. "You won't lose will you, Neji-nii-san?"

The older Hyuuga smirked in reply and the girl just laughed as she walked away.

It didn't take long for the battle area to be cleared of all save the two combatants and the Jounin referee, and soon all eyes were focused on the pair of Genin facing off.

"Do your best, Neji!" Tenten cheered.

"Yosh! My eternal rival! Show them the flames of your YOUTH!" Lee's eyes burned passionately, his fist clenched in front of him.

"Loser buys me sake/ramen!" The sound of two simultaneous slaps to the head and dual yelps of pain followed the shouts. "What was that for, Princes/Bun-chan?"

"Quit acting like a child/moron!" The women scolded.

"...okay. I'm starting to get a little freaked out by this whole synchronization thing." Kiba commented to Hinata who just nodded in agreement.

"If it's okay with the audience," Hayate coughed despite his attempt at sternness, "can we begin the match?"

"By all means. Don't let us hold you up." Naruto grinned down at the man whose eye twitched ever so slightly in response.

Neji shook his head, a tiny grin on his lips from the whole situation, before activating his byakugan. Across from him, Kankuro tilted his head and gave the other boy a pleasant smile. "Let's enjoy our match, Hyuuga-san."

"Indeed." The white eyed boy nodded in response. "But, first, you should stop hiding on the back of that puppet."

Several eyes opened in surprise at the boy's statement, but Naruto wasn't one of them as he leaned over the rail. "Ha! You've been busted K.C."

Kankuro's expression was unchanged by either boys' words. "What is it that you mean by that, Hyuuga-san?" He asked innocently.

"My byakugan can easily see a person's chakra pathways." Neji replied in a calm tone. "A puppet has no chakra pathways. It is controlled by the chakra strings coming from your fingers that you attach to the limbs. I can also clearly see your chakra pathways in the wrappings on the back of your puppet. So, I would appreciate it if you were to come out and face me properly."

There was no movement from the other boy for a few moments. Then, without warning, Kankuro's face split down the center as if it were fractured glass. Slowly, pieces of his face began falling away to reveal a grinning, wooden face. At the same time, the bandages on its back fell away and the real Kankuro stepped into view behind the no longer disguised puppet. His lips formed a frown as he stepped to the side to be more easily seen. "I knew that trick wouldn't work on a Hyuuga. You guys are a puppeteer's worst nightmare."

"Would you like to forfeit?" The Hyuuga boy's inquiry held no arrogance or sign of belittling his opponent. Just the sense that he was seeking to know what the other genin's course of action would be.

Kankuro grinned nervously. "Can't say it didn't cross my mind. Problem is…" the boy's fingers extended and the puppet sprang to life. Its body twisting beneath its dirty gray cloak and mass of fake brown hair. "Neither my siblings or that little blond bastard up there would let me hear the end of it if I just turned tail and ran."

Neji nodded his understanding and dropped into his fighting stance. "Then let us begin our match."

Kankuro grit his teeth and his fingers began to dance, the puppet jerking and twisting in response. "Let's do this, Karasu!" The puppet shot forward as if it were flying and charged directly at the Hyuuga.

Neji showed no sign of concern as the wooden battle puppet bore down on him. Even when the right arm extended and produced a poisoned spike to impale him, he simply watched with a calm composure. Just before the blade reached him Neji ducked the spike and shot past the puppet and made a quick slashing motion with his chakra covered right hand. As soon as he did, Karasu fell to the ground and became motionless. Not stopping his movement, the Hyuuga rushed for Kankuro but found the Suna-genin was already on the move, putting some distance between the two of them as his fingers danced in his attempts to reconnect his chakra strings to his fallen weapon. Instead of pursuing the foreign genin, Neji changed his course to intercept the strings, his glowing palms passing through them and disrupting their path.

Stopping in his movement, he focused his pulsing eyes on Kankuro. "I'm sorry to say, but you are wasting your time. With the Jyuuken style, I can easily sever the chakra strings you use to control your puppet. And my byakugan allows me to see them no matter where they may be. Such as the four you are currently running through the cracks in the floor and the three you are running along the wall. Even if I allow you to connect them, my byakugan also makes it impossible for you to launch a surprise attack on me."

Kankuro was sweating. He'd heard plenty of stories about how bad it was for a puppeteer to fight a Hyuuga, but he'd always thought they were exaggerations. Oh, how wrong he had been. Still, it was too early to throw in the towel just yet. Reattaching his chakra strings to Karasu, he disassembled the puppet into as many pieces as possible, each one with a poisoned blade poised to strike. Knowing the other boy was well aware of what was happening but taking advantage of the fact he hadn't yet moved, Kankuro positioned the pieces so that the other boy was completely surrounded. "You talk big, Hyuuga, but can even you can't avoid an attack from all sides?" The puppeteer brought his hands down and across his body and the pieces of Karasu all flew straight for his target.

Neji closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as the attack closed in. "You still don't understand." His eyes snapped open and he shot forward, easily slipping through the space between the weapons. "With my eyes, I can see all of the attacks, so I don't have to worry about what might be coming up behind me and can instead focus on moving forward." Kankuro cursed and tried to change the course of his blades but Neji's glowing hands flashed out to the sides. "I can also sever the chakra strings of the weapons closest to me making them unusable for the few seconds you need to reestablish the connections. And while I have no need to fear an attack hitting me…" This time Kankuro wasn't able to move before the Hyuuga boy was directly in front of him and holding a chakra infused palm only millimeters from the Suna genin's chest, directly over his heart. "I can close the distance to attack you." Neji's pulsing eyes locked onto Kankuro's. "If you wish to surrender I have no problems with allowing you to do so. However, if you wish to continue, I cannot guarantee that you will not be severely injured or even killed."

Kankuro gulped, a nervous sweat dampening the black hood covering his head. He knew his sister and that little bastard, Naruto, would never let him hear the end of this…but screw it! He didn't feel like spending a few months in a hospital just because he had gotten a shitty match up. Raising his hand above him in resignation, he turned to Hayate. "I forfeit."

"And the clown goes down!" Naruto shouted triumphantly.

Kankuro felt a vein pulse on his forehead and he glared up at the blond. "I hate you!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out in reply.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji." Hayate commented, ignoring the arguing genin. "I would like to ask our two combatants to please return to your teams."

Neji bowed politely to the referee before he walked to the stairs to get to his team. Kankuro was still glaring at Naruto as he did the same, only breaking his glare when he had to turn to go to the opposite stairwell. He was still grumbling about obnoxious little brats when he rejoined his team. His anger dissipating now that he was back with his siblings and team leader, Kankuro scratched the back of head in mild embarrassment. "Well that sucked."

Temari shook her head. "It was just bad luck."

Behind her, a man in a Suna Jounin uniform nodded his agreement, a white cloth covering half his face shifting as he did. "It may have been a short battle but you did your best and you did not run away from the fight. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

"Baki-sensei is right." Temari added. "Don't worry about it."

"You did well." Gaara said calmly

Kankuro was quiet for a moment before turning back to look down at the battle zone. "Thanks." He said simply.

"You did great, Neji." Tenten complimented as her teammate took his place between herself and Lee.

"Indeed, my eternal rival!" Lee declared, pumping his fist into the air. "His skills were completely destroyed by your burning power of youth!"

"Except for the fact he had it easy." Naruto cut in, earning several looks. "I mean, puppet users aren't really front line fighters. They're more 'hide and let my toy do all the work' types. So this was a really bad place for him to try to fight." Naruto paused and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Then again, if he hadn't been up against a Hyuuga, he might have been able to stay hidden in those wrappings and taken out his opponent the second they were dumb enough to get in too close."

"Like you would have?" Hinata asked with a smirk.

Naruto nodded in confirmation. It was a few seconds later before he realized what he had just agreed with.

"HEY!"

"The next match will now be decided." Hayate announced. His cough was almost unnoticed as he pointed to the board which instantly began cycling through names.

Inuzuka Kiba vs. Uchiha Sasuke

"A teme against a sis con!" Naruto cheered. "This should be good!"

"I am NOT a sis con!" Kiba snarled.

"Hurry up and get down here, Sis con." Sasuke called out. Everyone looked to the boy and found him already standing in the middle of the battle area and looking impatient.

Kiba grit his teeth. "That's it. First I'm gonna smack the Uchiha around," he turned and glared at his blond teammate, "then I'm gonna smack the idiot around." He turned back to the floor, making him miss the fact Naruto was sticking out his tongue and pulling down the skin under his left eye, and jumped over the railing. "Let's do it, Akamaru!"

Sasuke had his arms crossed in front of him as the pair landed. "Took you long enough. I was starting to think you were too scared to fight me."

His provocation was not wasted as Kiba instantly snarled back. "Who the hell would be scared of you, asshole? I'm planning to kick the shit out of you!"

Sasuke smirked confidently. "You actually think you can win? You should know that you are no match for my sharingan."

"Lame! I want a redo on the match ups!" Jagaa suddenly yelled down. "Why do we have to watch two matches in a row with people who can't win a fight without their fancy eyes?"

Sasuke's eye twitched noticeably as he glared up at his complaining sensei. "What exactly is that supposed to mean, Jagaa-sensei?"

"Exactly what I said. You so-called 'geniuses' think you're all hot shit, but the first thing you do is start bragging about some skill you have that gives you an advantage." The scarred man smirked down at the boy. "You probably couldn't even put up half a decent fight without your oh-so-special eyes."

A vein appeared on Sauke's forehead. "I was being called a genius before I ever activated my sharingan! I could easily win without it!"

Jagaa's smirk instantly became a mischievous smile. "Oh really? How about a bet then. If you can't win without using your eyes, you have to write letters to twenty of your fangirls confessing your undying love for them." Sasuke paled at the thought of what kind of horrors such a punishment could bring and Jagaa smiled wider. "What's the matter? Scared you can't do it?"

Sasuke's fear instantly turned to anger. "FINE! But when I DO win without using them, I'm going to make you kneel down and declare the Uchiha to be the strongest clan to ever walk the face of this earth!" Sasuke paused for a second then added. "And you'll have to call me 'Uchiha-sama' for a WEEK!"

Jagaa's smile never faltered. "You're on."

Naruto leaned over to Hinata and whispered. "Is this how it looks when he tricks me into doing something?"

Hinata nodded. "Except it usually seems easier with you."

"Oh…HEY!"

A vein still pulsing on his forehead, Sasuke glared at Kiba. "Let's get this over with." He growled, cracking his knuckles maliciously as he did.

Kiba wasn't sure if he should be grateful to Jagaa that he got Sasuke to agree to not use the infamous sharingan or ticked that now the Uchiha was planning to take out all his anger at his sensei on Kiba instead. Deciding the only thing to do was to focus on the fight, Kiba smirked. "Just don't make too many excuses when you lose. Let's do this, Akamaru!" As his partner barked his agreement, Kiba dipped his hand into his weapons pouch and pulled out a small, round pill and flicked it to the puppy with his thumb. Akamaru jumped up and easily caught the pill in his mouth and swallowed it. As soon as he did, his fur turned from white and brown to a deep crimson and his growl became low and menacing.

Sasuke watched with an unimpressed expression, already having recovered his composure, as the now red puppy jumped onto Kiba's back while the boy crouched over on all fours after popping another pill into his own mouth. "Doping up on soldier pills at the start of a fight? For someone talking so tough, you sure are acting desperate." His eyes narrowed as the other boy's nails became more claw-like and his teeth more fang-like, giving the Inuzuka a feral appearance.

"Heh, this isn't desperation. This is how we fight." Kiba grinned wolfishly. "And Akamaru isn't done yet." The dog barked his agreement and erupted into a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared there were several gasps as they all saw two Kibas, one standing on top of the other, glaring at Sasuke.

"Juujin Bunshin!" Kiba declared and they jumped apart from each other and flanked their opponent. "Get ready, Uchiha! Today you're gonna get your ass kicked!"

Sasuke smirked at the boy's declaration. "I've already had my ass kicked and it was by someone a hell of a lot more intimidating than you." Sasuke's eyes flicked to the stands, his lips twitching in amusement when he noticed Jagaa-sensei acting completely innocent while Kurenai-sensei glowered at the man. He turned his eyes back to Kiba, shifting them calmly between the boy and his transformed companion as he continued. "You, however, aren't very impressive."

"We'll see about that!" Kiba snarled. "Let's do this, Akamaru!" The pair flanked out, Kiba going to Sasuke's left side and Akamaru going in on the right. Ducking low, Akamaru aimed a slash for Sasuke's leg while Kiba aimed a punch for the side of his face.

Sasuke didn't bother to directly focus on either attacker, allowing his peripheral vision to keep track of the pair as they closed in with their pincer attack. Just as Akamaru's slash began to come in Sasuke's foot shot out, catching the transformed dog's wrist and knocking back the attack. At the same time, he leaned back enough to let Kiba's fist pass in front of him. Sasuke's right hand shot up, grabbing the Inuzuka's forearm and then wrenching downwards. Quickly putting his right foot back on the ground, Sasuke pivoted left and shifted his grip to push Kiba's arm behind him and then up to the ceiling.

Kiba felt the pressure building on his shoulder and knew it was about to be dislocated due to the momentum of his own attack. Knowing he couldn't stop it Kiba was forced to flip himself forward, moving with the counter instead of trying to fight it. He managed to successfully complete his flip and land on his feet with his hand free of Sasuke's grip but had no chance to reorient himself before an impact to the back of his right knee dropped him to a kneeling position. He looked back to see Sasuke about to put a chop into the artery of his neck but was saved when the Uchiha had to duck an incoming kick from Akamaru. Unfortunately for the pup Sasuke simply changed his chop into a thrusting punch, catching him in the floating ribs on his left side. The puppy yelped in pain and jumped away. Kiba landed right beside his companion in an attempt to regroup and get some kind of control of the situation.

'Even without his Sharingan, he's good.' Kiba admitted grudgingly to himself. He glanced over to Akamaru and saw the puppy clutching at his ribs in his transformed state. Kiba put his attention back on Sasuke and narrowed his eyes. "Okay, Akamaru, let's kick this up a notch." Akamaru growled his agreement and jumped next to Kiba. "GATSUUGA!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as both figures began spinning at incredible speeds and coming at him like a cyclone missile. Without pause he quickly jumped out of the way and spun around to attack once the pair came out of their spin, only to gasp in surprise when the duo simply ricocheted off the floor and walls and began heading back at him from each side. Leaping forward, Sasuke again avoided the attacks but was caught off guard when one of the cyclones immediately bounced straight back at him. He barely managed to avoid the attack but was thrown off balance by the sudden movement which left him ill prepared to deal with the next attack coming from behind him and was unable to fully avoid the spinning figure. Sasuke grunted in pain as the attack grazed his left shoulder with enough force to send him flying for several feet before he righted himself and landed, his right hand clutching his injured shoulder.

Kiba and Akamaru ceased spinning and came to a rest in the middle of the room, both grinning widely. "How was that?" Kiba asked triumphantly.

"…Not bad." Sasuke admitted grudgingly. "How are you able to track me without pausing the attack? You shouldn't be able to see that well."

Kiba smirked and pointed to his nose. "While you Uchiha have so much pride in your eyes, we Inuzuka take pride in our sense of smell. I don't need to be able to see you. As long as I have your scent I can track you anywhere you run."

Sasuke nodded his understanding even as his eyes flashed with suppressed annoyance. 'That is going to make it hard to counterattack if he doesn't have to stop his attack to retarget me. And if I hadn't been so stupid as to rise to Jagaa-sensei's bait, I would be able to use my sharingan to track his attack pattern and avoid him until he ran out of chakra.' Sasuke bit the inside of his lip as he considered his options. 'What can I do to turn this around?'

He knew he couldn't dodge forever. Not with how easily Kiba could track him. He also knew that kunai and shuriken would be ineffective since the wind from the high-speed rotation would just knock them off course before they could get close enough. He would need an attack that would either be able to overwhelm the wind or use it to his advantage somehow. Sasuke's eyes widened as a thought struck him. 'It could work, but…' He glanced up to the observation decks, his gaze landing on Sakura. 'Should I?'

"GATSUUGA!"

Sasuke jerked his head back to Kiba and Akamaru just as the pair began going into their deadly spin and heading for him again. With no more time to consider his options Sasuke's hands began flashing seals.

From the platform, Naruto narrowed his eyes and growled. "He wouldn't."

"Don't judge yet, Brat." Jagaa responded calmly. "He's not the same as he was then."

Several others on the balcony looked at the pair in confusion for a moment before going back to watching the fight.

Sasuke ran directly at the incoming pair. Just as they were about to collide, Sasuke went into a slide on his knees and leaned far back to pass under the twin cyclones. "KATON: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" The huge ball of fire shot straight up to collide with one of the spinning attackers and a yelp of pain sounded through the room. A moment later, there was a puff of smoke and Akamaru rolled along the ground until stopping next to a wall where he lay unmoving.

On the observation platform, Sakura shuddered as she watched. Part of her wanted to turn away from the attack and the memories but she forced herself to keep watching. If she was going to become a powerful kunoichi she had to get through this. Her resolve firm, she kept her eyes on the combatants below.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted in concern as he rushed to his fallen comrades' side. A quick examination showed that the puppy, despite being injured, was still breathing. Kiba glared over at Sasuke who was once again standing. "You son of a bitch! You could have killed him!"

Sasuke shook his head. "With the speed that the two of you were rotating I knew that most of the attack would be pushed away by the force. In fact, I was counting on it since my goal is just to win the match, not seriously hurt you or your dog. We may be opponents right now, but we are still comrades from the same village." Sasuke glanced up to the observation deck. "I've made that mistake before. I won't do it a second time."

Sakura felt the eyes on her and knew exactly what he was talking about, as did most of the room. She did not say anything, but she did nod her understanding to her teammate, who in turn nodded back.

"The Emo has come a long way in a short time, eh Brat?" Jagaa commented to Naruto with a slight smirk.

"Meh, he's still a bastard." The boy replied with a grin. "But I suppose he's getting there."

Sasuke's barely noticeable smile of pride was the only indicator that the boy had heard the comments.

Kiba, if he were to admit it, was also glad that Sasuke seemed to be truly considering his actions and taking steps to limit the potential damage, but that didn't stop the anger building inside him over the injuring of his partner. "You may have not been trying to kill him, but you are going to regret hurting Akamaru." The Inuzuka growled as he put his hands on the ground to stand on all four limbs, chakra leaking from the tips of his fingers. "I'm still gonna kick your ass!" Kiba shot forward, moving on all four limbs like a beast, at a speed superior to what he had shown prior. "Let's see you handle this!"

Sasuke dodged the swipe to his chest by a hair's breadth and the following slash at his face by nearly as narrow a margine. Sasuke was given no time to form a counter attack as Kiba kept pressing the assault by ducking low and shooting behind him to throw a kick at his lower back which Sasuke again narrowly avoided. Kiba let out a frustrated curse before aiming a vicious back hand to Sasuke's face, but this was the type of opportunity the dark haired boy had been waiting for.

Kiba instantly knew he made a mistake when Sasuke grabbed his wrist with his left hand before dropping low and stepping forward to ram his right fist into Kiba's ribs. A cracking sound filled the air, giving testament to the force of the strike, along with Kiba's howl of pain. Before he could fully register what had happened, Kiba's world spun as he was flipped through the air and brought down hard on his back causing another shout of pain. The feeling of cold steel against his neck forced the Inuzuka to abandon any thoughts he may have had about getting back up as looked into the onyx eyes of his opponent.

"It's over." Sasuke stated calmly and looked up to the judge for confirmation.

Hayate nodded in agreement and raised his right hand into the air. "Winner, Uchiha Sasuke."

"And another dog gets put down. It is a sad day in the canine world." Naruto pretended to wipe a tear away in false despair.

Hinata groaned and covered her eyes with her left hand. "Are you planning to make stupid comments at the end of every match?"

The boy grinned. "Pretty much, yeah."

Kiba grimaced in pain, clutching his left side with his right hand while his other hand accepted Sasuke's assistance in getting to his feet. "Good fight. Though I do have to admit that I seriously fucked up at the end there."

"Your only real mistake was letting your anger get the best of you while you were fighting." Sasuke said, holding the other boy steady as they waited for the medic nin that was hurrying towards them. "If you hadn't been angry about Akamaru, you probably wouldn't have started getting rushed in your desire to hit me."

Kiba grunted in acknowledgment as he allowed himself to be carefully laid on a stretcher. "Well don't let it go to your head. If we ever fight again I am absolutely going to kick your ass." Sasuke couldn't help the small snort of amusement as he watched the other boy be carried off before shaking his head and quickly going back to the spectator area.

"Congratulations, Sasuke-kun!" Ino cheered, throwing her arms around the boy in a hug. "That was amazing." To the side, Sakura gave a smile and nod in agreement, of which Sasuke was appreciative.

Kurenai gave the boy a light pat on the back and smiled at him. "You did well."

Sasuke gave her a thankful smile before he zeroed in on his second sensei. His smile quickly changing into a victorious smirk, he walked over to stand in front of the man. "Well?"

"Eh, not too bad, I guess." Jagaa replied casually. "I thought the whole thing was a little sloppy, but still not too bad overall."

Sasuke's smirk actually managed to become more pronounced. "Not that. I'm talking about our bet. Don't tell me that you are going to pretend you forgot about the terms."

Jagaa's face suddenly lit up as if he just made the connection. "Ah, that's right. The bet." He reached into his pouch and pulled out a pencil and small pad of paper. "So, I'm gonna need the names of each girl you will be writing a letter to so that I can check and make sure they got it. No trying to weasel out of it now."

Sasuke's smirk morphed into an angry scowl. "What are you trying to pull? I won the match without using my sharingan. That means that I won the bet."

The innocent smile that suddenly came to the scarred man's face had Sasuke taking a single step backwards in apprehension. If there was one thing that Sasuke had learned it was how that smile always meant trouble.

"Sharingan? When did I ever say anything about that?" Jagaa asked with clear amusement. "My terms were that you had to win without using your eyes."

Sasuke's expression was slowly turning to dread as he replayed the conversation in his head and realized that Jagaa had, in fact, never specifically mentioned his doujutsu. "Th…that doesn't matter! You were clearly implying that I couldn't win without my sharingan!"

"Is that how you understood it?" False innocence pouring off of him. "I'm sorry. I thought you understood that I meant your vision in general. I guess that's my bad for not being clear enough but a bet is a bet and you lost."

The color drained from Sasuke's face. "You…you tricked me! This was all a set up!"

"Yeah, pretty much." Jagaa replied with a grin. "So…who are we writing these letters to?"

Sasuke finally hit his breaking point. Grabbing his head in both hands he screamed out in a blend of frustration and despair.

"High five!" Naruto yelled, slapping his older brother's raised hand.

Kakashi gave the younger jounin a sidelong glance. "You really are a terrible person."

"So you've said." Jagaa replied with a shrug.

"Jagaa…" Kurenai interrupted in a displeased tone. "You and I are going to have a talk about this behavior later."

"Ooh, a secret rendezvous for a private 'talk'?" Jagaa replied while feigning embarrassment. "You're so forward, Princess."

"We will now begin the next match." Hayate announced, deciding to just ignore the recurring commotion. "The next combatants will be…Rock Lee and Akamichi Chouji."

"YOSH! It is now my turn to show how brightly my flames burn!" Lee announced as he threw several excited warm up kicks. A couple of which had nearby people ducking out of the way.

Gai patted the boy's shoulder proudly. "That is correct, my adorable student! Show them the power of your youth!" He gave the boy a thumbs up and smiled widely, his famous tooth sparkle lighting up the area.

"How does that not bother you?" Kakashi questioned Jagaa, who was the only one who had not flinched at the shine.

The scarred man gave a noncommittal shrug.

Standing next to Chouji, Shino's slightly muffled voice was heard through the commotion. "You certainly have a noisy opponent." He said calmly to his teammate.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru agreed while leaning on the rail.

Asuma gave Chouji a light pat on the back. "Just do your best and try to enjoy yourself."

Chouji was watching Lee in apprehension. "...can I just forfeit instead?" He asked with a bit of a pleading tone.

Lee, who had already jumped down to the battle area, called up enthusiastically to his less than eager opponent. "Come my youthful friend! Let us begin our match!" As Chouji continued to hesitate a paper bird hit Lee in the side of his head. Frowning in confusion, Lee picked up the paper and, seeing that it had writing on it, unfolded the bird. "Hurry up, you damned fatass." He read out loud. "...What an youthful thing to say."

Chouji went rigid and he glared down at Lee. "Did you just call me fat?" He growled.

"Excuse me?" Lee was genuinely confused at the other boy's reaction but Chouji was beyond the ability to realize it.

"I'm not FAT! I'm BIG BONED!" Chouji launched off the balcony and landed with a heavy thud in front of Lee. "I'm gonna squash you!"

In their section, nearly all eyes turned accusingly to Jagaa and Naruto, both of whom started to whistle innocently, leaving them all to wonder which was the guilty party.

"Match, start!" Hayate said with a drop of his hand.

Lee wasn't sure why the other boy was so angry but his mood brightened at Hayate's command. "Let us enjoy our match!"

"Only if you enjoy being flattened!" Chouji shouted in response and clapped his hands together. "Baika no jutsu!" The boy's body expanded until he looked like a large beach ball. His head and limbs then disappeared inside his body and chakra started to pour out where his appendages had been. "Nikudan Sensha!" Chouji's voice echoed out as his giant form began to spin rapidly, shooting forward towards Lee once he gained traction.

Lee jumped to the side, easily avoiding Chouji's charge, and smiled warmly. "That is a very interesting taijustsu style! The flames of your youth burn strong!"

Chouji's spinning form made a wide turn and again aimed for Lee. "Don't think flattery is going to help you after you called me fat!" He yelled as he tried again to roll over Lee, only for the boy to easily move to the side as before.

"I am not quite sure what you mean, my youthful friend!" Lee replied in a friendly voice that was clearly genuine. "I do, however, know that this attack will not be able to hit me. I'm afraid it lacks the required speed. Is there perhaps another attack you would like to try?"

"Just shut up and get squashed!" Chouji shouted in reply as his aim refocused on Lee.

As he watched, Shikamaru sighed and rubbed the side of his head in irritation. "Troublesome dope. Why does he let anger do his thinking if he thinks someone called him fat?"

Asuma shrugged and took a drag on his cigarette. "It's definitely something to work on. He needs to find some kind of balance between being a coward and being a berserker."

"Maybe if you did more training with them instead of playing shougi all the time." Kurenai said with an accusing sidelong glance.

"Oh, speaking of shougi!" Jagaa suddenly perked up and rounded on Shikamaru. "You owe me 247 rematches."

A sweatdrop formed on Shikamaru as he looked back. "Uh…I thought you blocked all previous losses from memory?"

Jagaa shook his head. "That's only while I'm actively playing. Otherwise I hold every loss close to my heart in order to fuel my need for revenge!"

"...Troublesome."

"Nii-san," Naruto suddenly said as he leaned on the rails, "would you please shut up. I'm trying to watch the fight."

"Hey, don't tell me to shut up." Jagaa protested indignantly. "I'm the one who tells you to shut up."

"Whatever. Shut up, Nii-san."

"How about you shut up, Brat."

"No, you shut up."

"You shut up."

"Nii-san, shut up."

"No, I'm telling you to shut up."

The argument came to an abrupt halt as each brother received a blow to the back of their head. "Both of you shut up!" Kurenai and Tenten commanded in unison.

"They're planning this! They have to be planning this!" Kiba almost shouted at Hinata in a worried tone. "There is no way that is happening coincidentally! Right!?"

Hinata shrugged.

Lee laughed as he watched the exchange. "Our companions seem to be enjoying themselves." He looked back at Chouji who was back in his normal form and panting heavily. "It is most youthful, would you not agree?"

Chouji glared in response. His chakra reserves were running low after his fruitless pursuit of the other boy. Lee was simply too fast to be caught with such a large and obvious technique. The Nikudan Sensha was not suited for one-on-one combat in the first place. It was actually supposed to be a support technique for large scale battles that could be used to open a path through enemy forces in order to allow allies to advance or retreat as needed. In solo combat all the opponent had to do was step to the side to avoid the obvious attack. The young Akamichi silently cursed himself for not having more knowledge of his clan's battle techniques.

"Have you finished with your attack?"

Chouji snapped out of his thoughts and saw that Lee had assumed a battle ready stance with one hand behind his back and the other extended forward, palm up. "In that case, I shall now begin my own attack."

Chouji was pretty sure he had not even managed to blink before Lee closed the distance between them and slammed his fist into his gut. The air rushed from Chouji's lungs and he fell forward without resistance. "I knew I should have forfeit," was all he could think before he collapsed into unconsciousness.

"...anyone else feel like that fight was kinda lame?" Jagaa's questioned earned him a disapproving look from Kurenai despite several other spectators nodding in agreement.

"Jeeze, and I even went through the trouble of getting him angry." Ino said, leaning on the rail and looking down at the unconscious boy in disappointment. "What a waste."

"Wait, it was you who threw that paper bird?" Kiba asked in surprise. Ino just nodded in response and Kiba turned to Jagaa and Naruto. "I thought for sure it was one of you."

"I never claimed I did it." Naruto said with a smirk. "Did you, Nii-san?"

"Nope. Don't believe I did." Jagaa replied with his own amused smirk.

"But you did know everyone thought it was one of you. So why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it was funny." The blond males replied in unison.

Kiba smacked his face.

"We will now choose the fighters for the next match," Hayate called out while feeling a little disturbed that he was getting used to the antics going on in the spectator area. The electronic board whirred through names for a moment before coming to a stop. "Tsuchi Kin vs. Uzumaki Naruto."

"All right! It's finally my turn!" Naruto cheered with a pump of his fist. "It's time for the main event!"

"I was thinking it was more like the clown show at the start of a circus," Jagaa commented, "You know, the one no one actually wants to see but sits through anyway so they can see the good stuff."

"Oh yeah? Well you'd be the guy everyone is secretly hoping will be eaten by the lion," Naruto countered.

A possible retort was interrupted by an angry female voice from below, "Hurry and get down here, damnit!"

The spectators all looked down to see the Oto kunoich, standing arms crossed over her gray vest and glaring up at them from beneath the hitai-ate holding back her long black hair, angrily tapping her foot on the stone floor. Her black and white, camo style pants actually shook from the action of her impatience and her dark eyes were narrowed on Naruto with a hostility that seemed far more intense than should be caused by a simple delay of the match.

Naruto frowned as he looked at her. "Oh, I'm fighting a girl." He looked at his older brother. "You know I don't really enjoy fighting girls."

"Don't be sexist," Jagaa said while giving the boy a light slap on the back, "just do the right thing and go kick the shit out of her like an equal."

Kurenai covered her eyes with her right hand and sighed. "You could have phrased that better." While she didn't disagree with Jagaa not letting Naruto treat a female ninja any less of an opponent than a male, that didn't mean she had to agree to his word choice.

Jagaa grinned at the woman and raised his right eyebrow. "Yes, but then what would you have had to be annoyed about?"

The barest hint of a smile as the memory of their conversation in his apartment flashed through her mind and she realized that it was all just a game to him. A game that, despite herself, she was actually coming to enjoy. She lowered her hand and gave him the best glare she could muster, "We will be talking about your behavior later."

"Oh, more passionate rendezvous? I'll have to make sure to be well rested." He wagged his eyebrows in feigned eagerness.

Kurenai couldn't stop the small laugh that slipped out.

Naruto had been watching the two jounin with a curious expression but looked back down to his opponent when he saw they were done. "Well, gotta do what you gotta do I guess," he muttered just before jumping over the rail and landing across from the angry kunoichi, his face still clearly showing his displeasure at the situation.

"...is he going to be okay?" Tenten asked with a trace of worry entering her tone. "He's not going to just forfeit the match to avoid fighting her right?"

Jagaa looked mildly confused by the question. "What makes you think he would do that?"

Kiba answered first, "Well he does get beaten up by girls fairly often," he said hesitantly and pointed to Ino, Sakura, Hinata and Tenten, "I've never once seen him try to fight back when one of them is mad at him. You'd think he had a phobia or something." The girls around him nodded their agreement at the assessment.

Jagaa seemed to look between them for a moment before he let out a couple breaths of amusement through his nose. "Wow, you all don't know Naruto nearly as well as you think you do." He chuckled to himself.

If any of the teens had an objection to the statement it was cut off when they heard Hayate's wheezy voice. "Begin!"

Naruto made no move to attack and instead put his hands behind his head while he smiled awkwardly. "I know Nii-san says gender doesn't mean anything in a fight between ninja but I honestly prefer not to hit girls if I can help it. Is there even a tiny chance you could just forfeit?"

The girl named Kin narrowed her eyes dangerously as she practically growled at him, "You think I'll just walk away from this after you ruined our mission? I'm going to kill you for embarrassing us in front of our leader."

Naruto's confusion was evident as his hands dropped away from his head, "mission? What mission?"

Kin didn't answer and instead dipped her hands into her weapon pouch. Pulling out several senbon needles held between her fingers like claws she seemed to slash at the air, sending them towards Naruto. He was a little surprised to see her using the same projectile that Haku-nii-san used, since it was pretty uncommon with most ninja, but more than that he was surprised when he noticed that each needle had a small bell tied to the end of it. With casual ease he leaned to the side and let the obvious attack pass harmlessly by to stick into the wall behind where he stood. "Seriously?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

The girl smirked back at him, "my attack isn't done yet, baka."

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard bells coming from behind him. He whirled around with a kunai ready to deflect the surprise attack but found that the needles were still embedded in the wall. A small flash of light caught his attention and Naruto realized that each of the bells had a nearly invisible wire attached to it. Realization struck him and he spun back around, his kunai blurring as he knocked the three new senbon coming for his head. This time without bells attached.

"Not bad," Naruto complimented, "but I'm pretty good at dealing with surprise attacks thanks to my nii-san's teaching methods."

Kin showed a bit of surprise that Naruto had blocked the surprise attack but she quickly regained her confidence. "That was only half of the attack. You should be feeling the effects right about now."

"What are you-" Naruto started when a huge wave of dizziness hit him from out of nowhere. He grabbed his head as his vision started swimming and the girl in front of him seemed to multiply. "What the hell?" He growled out as he dropped to a knee in an attempt to steady himself.

"Heh! Those bells aren't just to distract you for a surprise attack," the Oto kunoichi smirked smuggly, "I can also use them to cast a genjutsu using the sound waves they produce." She reached into her weapon pouch and more needles as she continued to gloat. "It will distort your vision and sense of balance leaving you unable to move or defend properly," a sadistic smile came to her face as she threw her weapons forward, "all you can do is get stabbed until you die!"

"CHIBI!" Tenten yelled, leaning over the rail.

A chorus of clanging metal met her shout and everyone's eyes widened, none more than Kin, as Naruto once again easily knocked each needle out of the air with his kunai.

"H-how…but you…how did you block them?" Her shout became accusatory in her shock, "how could you block them with your eyes closed!?" Her shout was met with several surprised gasps as the spectators quickly looked more carefully at the blond boy and saw that his eyes were indeed tightly closed.

Naruto slowly stood up and a smile formed as his face relaxed. With his eyes still closed Naruto spoke calmly to the kunoichi, "I have a friend who's dad is a master of silent killing. While we were traveling together I asked him if he would teach me because I wanted to be able to surprise attack my nii-san in the dark…not that it actually worked." Naruto could almost feel the teasing smile directed at him from above. "While he was teaching me he told me about how silent killing was also a near perfect counter for genjutsu since almost all of them focus on disrupting vision and can't take full effect if your eyes are closed." Naruto pointed directly at Kin as he continued, "for example, when you were talking earlier it was like your voice was coming from several places at once. Now I can only hear your actual voice. Also, my headache and dizziness is gone since my vision isn't being messed with anymore."

Naruto tilted his head, eyes still closed, "so, I know Nii-san is probably gonna smack me for asking again, but is there any chance you could forfeit?" Naruto's voice had taken on an almost pleading tone but held a strong sense of resolve.

Kin's disbelief was immediately replaced with fury as she snarled at the boy in front of her, "Fuck you! I'll fucking kill-" The girl suddenly doubled over with spit flying from her mouth as Naruto's fist was slammed into her gut. 'What the hell?' She fell to her knees, clutching her stomach in pain as she stared up at the blond, 'How did he move so fast?'

"...you know, I just realized something," Kin's heart clenched in fear as she watched the boy's face go stony and his voice became as cold as ice, "it's a lot easier to hit girls if my eyes are closed."

Kin couldn't even consider defending herself before Naruto's right foot crashed into the side of her head and sent her skidding across the floor. Her head throbbing and her vision shaky, Kin tried to push herself to her feet. She was barely half way up when Naruto grabbed the back of her head and delivered a brutal knee to her face, making real backwards and spit away the blood that was flowing from her broken nose. She couldn't even find her footing before Naruto slammed his right fist into her chest with such force that she was thrown across the room and slammed against the wall. Her cry of pain had barely started when the force caused the back of her head to smash into the wall and her eyes immediately rolled upwards as she fell heavily to the floor and lay unmoving.

A shocked silence hung in the air as Naruto opened his eyes, calmly looked at the prone girl, and turned to walk away with only a slight shrug at her physical state. As Naruto left the area, Hayate moved to Kin and checked the girl's pulse. After confirming she was not dead he signaled the medic nin and then raised his hand, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

On the observation deck, Naruto's friends were attempting to process what they had just witnessed. Kiba in particular looked rather shaken. "I…I'm not sure I believe it," he said with a slight tremble in his voice, "I never thought he could do that to a girl. I mean, he could have killed her and he didn't even seem to care."

"Why would he?" Jagaa questioned with a shrug. "She was an enemy and she clearly intended to kill him so there was no reason to be concerned about her well being."

Kurenai looked at her partner with confusion clear in her eyes. "But he was trying to get her to surrender. He said he didn't want to hit a girl." Kurenai could admit she was glad that Naruto didn't seem unwilling to actually defend himself in a fight with a female ninja, but his complete shift in temperament was baffling.

"If you recall, he actually said he preferred not to hit girls," Jagaa stated "There is a large difference between being unwilling to do something and preferring not to. For instance, I prefer to drink Sake over wine but I am perfectly okay with knocking back a bottle or two of wine if that's all that is available."

Kurenai rolled her eyes at the analogy but she could understand what he was saying. Going off that analogy, Naruto asking the girl to surrender before fighting would be like Jagaa asking if there was a bottle of Sake hidden in the back, just in case, before easily moving on to the wine.

Naruto arrived just after the discussion and stretched as if trying to loosen his body. "Well that was pretty easy. She put way too much faith in that weird bell genjutsu and was completely unprepared to fight someone who could counter it. That's just plain lazy training."

"Say's the boy I pretty much had to beat that same concept into. Or did you forget your obsession with henge techniques when you were younger?" Jagaa's tone started off in a teasing manner before becoming more serious, "speaking of easy, why did you end up going easy on her? She clearly wanted to kill you but you left her alive to try again. I thought I taught you better than that."

"Meh, it's just an exam so the ref probably wouldn't have let her kill me anyway, even if she could have," Naruto said with a shrug. "Besides, she said something about me ruining her mission. So I kinda felt bad about that."

Kakashi gave the boy a sidelong glance with his visible eye. "That's nice and all, but what if her mission was to assassinate one of your friends or comrades. She is a kunoichi from Oto, a village whose leader hates Konoha."

Naruto's eyes went wide in realization. "Oh shit! I didn't think about that!"

"...idiot," Jagaa muttered with an exasperated sigh.

"Hey, Naruto" Kiba suddenly said in a tone that sounded both angry and accusatory, "you pounded that girl like you were swatting flies and didn't bat an eye after you nearly killed her. So why are you always letting Ino, Sakura, Hinata, or even that Tenten girl beat you up all the time?"

Naruto gave the other boy a slightly confused look. "Why would I hurt them? I like them. Besides, none of them were ever really intending to kill me…well, maybe Hinata, but I still think she would actually stop just before actually killing me." Naruto grinned and put his hands behind his head, "besides, letting someone pound you every now and then is a good way to improve your pain endurance so you can push through it in a battle. Nii-san does the same thing you know. That's one of the reasons he is always making fun of Kure-mmff" the boy's words were cut off as a hand was slapped over his mouth.

"Okay, no more talking for you." Jagaa said after a quick clearing of his throat and trying very hard to keep his gaze focused away from his kunoichi partner.

Kurenai of course realized this and lightly started poking his cheek. "Oh, Jagaa-san, so many of your secrets are being revealed lately," she teased with a little grin.

"Anko-chan, Princess is being mean to me," the man complained loudly.

"That's no good, Nai-chan," Anko said from beside the Hokage from further down the observation deck. "You should be nice to Jagaa-chan. In fact, maybe later we could both be very nice to him together."

Jagaa's jaw dropped a little before he covered his ears with his hands, "I heard nothing! I imagined nothing! I will fantasize tonight about nothing!" Jagaa paused and pulled his hands away from his ears, "wait, what was the last thing I just said?"

"We will now begin the next match," Hayate stated a bit impatiently, cutting off whatever teasing may have followed, and pointed to the board that was already displaying the next names. "Nara Shikamaru versus Sabaku no Gaara."

Across the way sand began swirling around the Suna boy and a moment later he appeared in the battle area, looking up expectantly towards the Konoha Genin.

"...what a pain," Shikamaru sighed and leaned on the rails. "He looks pretty strong. Maybe I should just forfeit."

"Shikamaru! If you try to forfeit this match without even trying I'm going to shove you pineapple head up your own ass!" The Nara boy flinched as Ino's voice echoed through the hall.

"That's my girl." Jagaa laughed while patting Ino on the back, earning a grin from her and disapproving frown from Kurenai.

Shikamaru let out a defeated sigh. "Tch, troublesome woman." Without further protest he jumped over the rail and down to the battle area. After landing he stretched his neck towards his right shoulder and rubbed at the base. He narrowed his eyes slightly on the suna genin across from him who continued to stand motionless with his arms crossed in front of him. Shikamaru wasn't sure exactly what it was, but even without his initial desire to forfeit, something told him he had absolutely no chance of winning against this quiet red-haired boy.

Hayate looked between both genin and raised his hand, "Begin!"

Shikamaru wasted no time in forming seals, "Kagemane no Jutsu!" The boy's shadow stretched out before him like a snake and quickly attached itself to Gaara's shadow as the Suna Genin watched in idle interest. "Success! I have you in my control now." The Nara boy felt a small smirk of triumph form as he lifted his hand and watched the other boy mirror the action.

Gaara watched his arm raise of its own accord without changing his expression. It was obvious to him that whatever the Konoha boy had done had somehow synchronized their actions. "Interesting," he said in a calm voice, "but what purpose does it serve?"

Shikamaru was put off balance by the lack of concern from his opponent. Most people would try to resist the jutsu and try to break free but the red-haired Genin didn't even bother to fight against it. He simply seemed more curious than anything as shikamaru made his body move along with his own. Trying to fight through the unnerving situation Shikamaru spoke as confidently as he could. "With you in my control, you can't win against me. You also may not have noticed, but you are closer to the wall than I am. So…" Shikamaru started walking backward, Gaara moving in sync, until he could tell the boy was in striking range of the surrounding brick, "you can either surrender or I'm gonna keep making you smash your head against the wall until you go unconscious."

Gaara's expression was impassive as he looked back. "You are welcome to try."

While Shikamaru doubted the Suna Genin would simply surrender, he wasn't quite prepared for the calm reply that met his ultimatum. "Don't say I didn't warn you!" With that he threw his body backward intending to force the other boy to slam the top of his head against the wall only to grunt in confusion when he felt himself come to a sudden stop and become unable to move himself any further.

Several exclamations of surprise sounded around the area and Shikamaru looked back toward his opponent and his eyes widened in shock of his own. Behind the red-haired boy a pillar of sand had shot up and was preventing him from getting within striking distance of the wall. Gaara himself, his expression still impassive, was looking straight ahead of where his angled body had stopped moving. "It is an interesting technique," the Suna boy stated, "but useless against me. I haven't even been able to harm myself since I was born. Also…" Shikamaru let out an alarmed shout when he felt something wrap around his body up to his neck. A quick glance down revealed he was now completely trapped in sand.

"I don't need to be able to move in order to attack," Gaara finished with no change of vocal tone.

Shikimaru didn't need to be a genius to know his earlier premonition was correct, "I surrender," he called out without a moment's hesitation. He breathed a sigh of relief as the sand receded from his body and he, in turn, recalled his shadow.

"Well, that makes two completely lame fights." Jagaa said in mild disgust.

"Did you really think anyone would have a chance against Gaara?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jagaa rubbed his chin, "Well, no, but the pineapple could have at least thrown a shuriken or two. It's always fun to watch people freak out when the sand catches them."

"You knew he could do that?" Ino asked in an accusatory tone.

Naruto and Jagaa both looked her way while the younger blond replied. "Well yeah. I told you we met them years ago. Gaara has always had that awesome sand shield. It will actually protect him from any type of attack. Even surprise attacks don't work. The sand just springs up and protects him no matter what."

"Seriously?" Kiba asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Naruto grinned, "Yeah. We actually used to make it a game. I would try to hit him with something, anything, and see if I could get past his sand shield." Naruto suddenly laughed. "It almost got me in a lot of trouble once. It's hard to explain to Suna ANBU that you weren't actually trying to kill the Kazekage's kid with an exploding kunai."

Kakashi looked up from his book in surprise, "exploding kunai?"

"Kazekage's child!?" Kurenai's face had drained of color.

"He told me to," Naruto defended, pointing across the way at Gaara, "and yeah, didn't I mention that those three are the Kazekage's children?"

"No," Ino declared with a slight edge in her voice, "as a matter of fact you didn't."

"Oh…meh, whatever," Naruto shrugged, "it's not like it's really a big deal anyway.

Jagaa was clearly laughing as the rest of them stared at Naruto as if he grew a second head but the boy himself simply looked down at the sound of Hayate's cough.

"The next match will be between…" he paused as he waited for the board to finish cycling names, "Haruno Sakura and Tenten."

Sakura let out a little squeak of surprise at her name being called and she watched the other girl leap down to the floor. She'd heard enough from Naruto about the brunette to know that she was no pushover. Sakura put her hand on the rail to jump over but paused as she looked at the confident girl below her and her grip tightened as a feeling of anxiety started to build up in her stomach. Just as she started to think that it might be best to simply forfeit a comforting hand rested on her right shoulder and a barely audible whisper reached her left ear.

"Who do you want to be?"

Sakura turned her head to find Jagaa leaning down with his face next to hers. From the reflection off his sunglasses she could see all the doubt and uncertainty she had always felt clearly showing in her eyes.

"Go," he told her while tilting his head to the battle area, "if you want to move forward, to win, then you have to fight."

Sakura looked straight at the man, the questioning looks from the rest of the group going unnoticed. Something about the way he said that made her think there was more to his words than what they seemed on the surface. She took a deep breath, "Do you really think I can?"

The man simply gave her a small smile but she understood what it meant and, with a quick nod of resolve, jumped over the rail.

Kurenai was looking at Jagaa with a curious raise of her eyebrow, "what was that about?"

"I'll tell you later," he replied while looking at the girls below, "for now let's see how our girl does."

The woman opened her mouth slightly as if to say something but decided against it and also looked to the battle. To the side, Asuma and Kakashi exchanged a questioning glance at the woman's unusual acquiescence to Jagaa's lack of answer.

Sakura stared at Tenten and took several calming breaths as she waited for Hayate to signal the start of the match. She could still hear her sensei's words in her mind and couldn't shake the feeling of some hidden meaning in them. It was obvious that she couldn't move forward in the exam if she didn't win against the other girl but that was seeming less and less likely. The other girl was clearly more experienced due to her longer time as a kunoichi and she, unlike Sakura, had clearly been training hard the whole time. But the smile that Jagaa had given told her that he fully believed she was capable of winning. While she had learned that her male sensei did have a warm and encouraging side she also knew that he wasn't the type to give false praise or overestimate his charge's abilities.

"Begin!"

The command snapped Sakura out of her thoughts and she dropped into her battle stance at the same time Tenten threw several senbon needles. Sakura was surprised how fast the other girl had gotten to and released her weapons but she was able to dodge out of the way. Spinning once as she avoided the needles she grabbed two kunai from her own pouch and used them to knock away three shuriken that had followed and finished her move by dropping into a crouch, both kunai raised in front of her to defend against any further projectiles.

"Not bad," Tenten said approvingly, "I thought you would get hit by at least one of those."

Sakura mentally grimaced knowing that only a month or so ago she definitely would have been hit.

"Let's make this more interesting." Tenten pulled out a scroll and, with a burst of smoke, summoned a wooden staff. With few expertly executed warm up spins Tenten dropped into her own ready stance, "here I come."

Sakura gaped in amazement as the other girl started towards her, the wooden staff spinning around her so fast that it almost looked like a solid circle of flat wood rather than a staff. It was only Tenten's sudden firm footing that alerted Sakura to the attack and she brought up and crossed her kunai to block the blow aimed for the top of her head.

Tenten pulled the blocked end back while bringing the other end up towards Sakura's ribs, who barely managed to bring down a kunai to block. Stepping back, Tenten spun the staff in front of her and spun her body quickly. As soon as she was almost facing Sakura again, Tenten stopped the staff's spinning and jabbed it forward like a spear at Sakura's chest.

Crossing her arms in front of her, Sakura was able to block the strike and let the force push her back from the other girl. Using the momentum she did a back roll and came to a stop in a low crouch, one of her Kunai in her teeth, and her hands forming seals. Without pausing, Sakura charged back towards Tenten as four clones came to existence around her.

Tenten showed no concern as she tucked the staff under her left arm while her right hand went to her weapon pouch. With casual efficiency she sent five shuriken flying, one going into each of the identical figures. Brown eyes widened in surprise as four of the images disappeared and the fifth puffed into a large piece of stone. "Kawarimi?" she had barely uttered the word when she heard the sound of weapons flying towards her. Turning quickly and spinning her staff she knocked three shuriken out of the air just before they could reach her. A flash of pink caught her attention and she looked up just in time to see Sakura aiming a drop kick at her head from above. Throwing the staff up horizontally, Tenten caught the kick mere centimeters before it connected. With an audible grunt she shoved the staff upward to throw the other girl off balance. Sakura, instead of falling over, went into multiple back handsprings before coming to a stop in a half crouch while keeping her eyes on Tenten.

"Sakura is doing rather well," Kurenai stated with an audible note of pride in her voice.

Jagaa nodded his agreement. "Considering where she was not that long ago, she's doing exceptionally."

"Yeah," Naruto added before his voice dropped a bit and he leaned his crossed arms on the rails, "too bad she's going to lose though."

Ino glared over at the other blond, "Hey! You don't know that for sure!"

Naruto's return look was almost pitying. "Actually, I do. Tenten wasn't really fighting seriously before. She was just feeling Sakura out. After that near hit though, she's gonna stop holding back."

Ino was about to respond when she suddenly realized that Naruto had not called the girl 'bun-chan' as he normally did. This simple fact somehow made it clear to Ino that the boy was not lying or trying to hype the other girl up. He was simply stating the facts as he knew them. He had also turned his eyes back to the fight with a bit of reluctant acceptance. With a sigh, Ino looked back to the fight along with everyone else to see how true the boy's words would be.

Sakura was watching her opponent intently and trying to find any opening to take advantage of. So she was more than a little surprised when the other girl suddenly tossed her staff aside to hit the floor with a loud clatter. She didn't have time to consider why, when Tenten was suddenly rushing towards her. As tightened her defensive stance Sakura noticed that Tenten had what appeared to be three metal balls in each of her hands. Almost as soon as she saw them the brunette's hands shot outwards and the six orbs were sent flying in various directions. Sakura was not able to watch where they had gone because she was immediately forced to block a punch to her face. Seeing Tenten shift her weight, Sakura was able to drop her left arm to block the knee to her gut and then raised her followup spinning back elbow to the side of her head.

Tenten then jumped high into the air and flipped upside down so she was looking directly at Sakura. As Sakura watched for the next attack she screamed in pain as the back of her knees were unexpectedly hit hard. The impact dropped her to her knees where she felt two more blows to each of her shoulders that made her arms go limp at her sides. A fifth impact into her stomach doubled her over, coughing out a large amount of spit. As her head bent down she finally saw a shiny metal ball hit the floor directly in front her before ricocheting up into her face. The impact was heard through the room and many groaned in sympathy as she fell unconscious to the floor.

With a quick check to make sure Sakura was still breathing, Hayate raised his arm, "Winner, Tenten."

Naruto gave a resigned sigh and leaned back while holding on to the rail so as not to overbalance. "Yep, that's about what I expected."

"How were you so certain about the outcome?" Kakashi asked, arching his eyebrow with his question.

"When I say that Bun-chan is really good with weapons, I mean she is really freaking good with weapons." The boy shuddered a little bit as he continued. "I have seen her pin flies to walls with senbon needles while blindfolded and bounce kunai off of at least six things just to stick a falling leaf to a tree. She knows how to coat her weapons with chakra that lets them bounce off just about anything if the angle is right and she can read trajectories at a glance. If you ever find yourself facing off with her, you better be ready to have weapons coming from every direction even if she is standing right in front of you." Naruto paused and gave them all a look that clearly showed he was not trying to exaggerate in the slightest.

Kurenai had been listening intently to Naruto's explanation. She wanted to be able to give Sakura some consolation and she felt she needed to know how Tenten had been able to so swiftly finish the fight if she was going to have any chance of reassuring her student that she had done well despite losing. "I see. It seems that Gai's student is incredibly talented in weapon arts. Jagaa, I'm going to go check on-" she stopped and looked around as she realized that the other jounin was no longer in their group. "Where did Jagaa go?"

"He went with the medics and Sakura," Asuma suddenly said from off to the side. "He asked me to tell you when Naruto was finished with his explanation.

Kurenai blinked in surprise at both the fact that she had not even noticed the man's departure and the fact that Jagaa had gone to check on Sakura before Kurenai herself did. "I didn't expect him to go with Sakura," she admitted. "That seems a bit out of character for him."

"Do you really think so?" Naruto asked and gave the woman a sidelong glance with his eyebrows raised. "Maybe you don't know Nii-san as well as you think you do."

It was with a jolt of shock that the rest of the group realized that this was the second time they had heard those words. Each time with one of the brothers telling them how little they actually knew about the other. As Kurenai watched Naruto turn to watch the names flashing across the board she could only wonder just how much she would eventually come to learn about the pair. She especially found herself wanting to learn more about the partner that, she was beginning to believe, she never really understood at all.

X

Sakura groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. Her head felt like it was being pressed by a vice while knees and shoulders felt like jelly. She didn't know what those metal balls were but they seriously hurt. Pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead Sakura slowly started to open her eyes, blinking repeatedly as the light caused the pain in her head to momentarily intensify.

"Nice to see you awake." Sakura turned towards the familiar voice and found Jagaa looking at her and smiling slightly. "With how hard you were hit I honestly thought you were gonna be out for a good while longer."

Sakura grimaced due to the pain in her head and looked back up towards the ceiling while putting her right forearm over her eyes. "So…I guess I lost."

"The match, yes," Jagaa confirmed. "To be honest, you never had a chance at beating Ten-chan. That girl has been playing with weapons since she could walk and she has always taken her training seriously. You've improved, but the outcome was decided the moment you were matched up with her." Jagaa paused and slowly removed Sakura's arm so she could look directly at him. "But that isn't what matters in this match. What is important is that you went out there and fought. What's more is that you made her take you seriously. The you of a few months ago would have been a joke to her. The you of today was a legitimate threat and potential rival. That is no small accomplishment."

Sakura felt the tears starting to build up in her eyes and she blinked rapidly to clear them. She refused to cry. She refused to let herself feel like she was a failure. She had gotten better. She had earned not only her opponent's approval but the approval of the man who was slowly becoming one of the people she respected the most. She wouldn't feel shame in her defeat. She would learn from it. She would grow. She would become stronger.

"So, tell me, Sakura," Jagaa said with a proud smile gracing his features. "Did you move forward today? Did you win?"

The girl knew what he meant and she knew what her answer was.

"Yes, Sensei. I did."